ON REPTILES. 119 



alligator has caught me!" The body was 

 found, some days afterwards, half devoured. 



An English naturalist, who was in search of 

 plants in South America, says, " I was disap- 

 pointed not to observe a single plant, except the 

 rank grasses, round the margin of the river ; but 

 alligators were laid in the water in almost count- 

 less numbers, resembling so many black stones 

 or logs. What we had seen in the river Amazon 

 of these reptiles was nothing compared to their 

 abundance in the Ramos river and its adjoining 

 lakes. I can safely say that at no one instant, 

 during the whole thirty days, when there was 

 light enough to distinguish them, were we 

 without one or more alligators in sight." In the 

 lakes, towards the close of the rainy season, 

 myriads of ducks breed in the rushes, and here 

 the alligators swarm to feed on the young birds. 

 If a sportsman fire at the ducks in these places, 

 he has but a poor chance of bagging many ; for 

 the instant a bird falls on the water the alliga- 

 tors rush towards it and crash their huge jaws 

 upon each other's heads in their hasty attempts 

 to seize it. When alligators have been hungry, 

 they have been known to upset a small boat in 

 order to feed on the rowers. Many instances 



